Louisa's Story
by GriffinStar
Summary: This story has been woven from the conversations between Louisa & Terry Glasson in 'On the Edge'


**Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of Buffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my imagination.**

**LOUISA'S STORY**

**This story has been woven from the conversations between Louisa & Terry Glasson in 'On the Edge'**

Martin found Louisa in her bedroom one day surrounded by various boxes.

"Time for a major sort out" she said firmly, looking up at him as he came in. "I've managed to get my things from the attic at the cottage. I'm going to be ruthless & get rid of anything that doesn't fit in with my new decor. No point in keeping all this old clutter. Thought I'd get on with it while Luke's asleep"

"Right, good idea" said Martin, his eye drawn to a box that appeared to have various pictures & paintings in.

Louisa picked up the box that he was looking at, & started rummaging through it. Her hand stopped on one particular framed picture. She slowly pulled it out of the box and stared at it. It was a watercolour painting depicting an angelic female figure holding a cherubic baby, measuring about 12" by 8" in a rather tatty frame that had seen better days.

"This belonged to my Mother," she said very quietly.

Martin looked at Louisa, not really expecting her to elaborate. He'd asked her about her mother on various occasions in the past, but she had said very little about her, refusing to be drawn.

"As far as I know she's still alive but we're not in contact, I don't see her" was all she would say.

Martin had asked Auntie Joan what she knew about Louisa's mother, and as usual she was able to fill in some of the gaps.

"Ah yes, the lovely Marie. Came down here in the seventies, I suppose she was what you would call a hippie, a 'free spirit'. Came down to some music festival I think. Terry Glasson was down here from London running some ticket scam at the time & he fell big time for Marie, was determined to win her. Well, she was very beautiful. That's where Louisa gets her looks from, she's the image of her mother. Terry managed to charm Marie – he could always sweet talk anyone. They set up a home of sorts here in the village. Next thing you know, Louisa was born – Marie was only about 18 or 19, not much more than a child herself. Think they had some sort of hippy wedding, not sure if they were ever legally married. Was never much of a mother to Louisa or her younger brother Andrew. Eventually Marie went off with some artist chappie to live in a commune somewhere in Wales I think. Took Andrew with her but not Louisa, never knew why she did that. Left Terry to bring up Louisa as best he could, but really I think she brought herself up. They were always moving house, Terry wasn't too good at paying the rent, so they always got thrown out eventually. People only put up with Terry because they felt sorry for Louisa. That's why people in the village, like Bert, are really quite protective of Louisa, they know how hard she's had to work to make a decent life for herself. "

At the time Martin had been appalled by this account of Louisa's unsettled childhood, & began to understand why she didn't talk about it much.

So now, when Louisa started to talk about her mother, he was surprised, but listened attentively.

"These pictures were the only thing I had of hers when she left. I used to pray to this particular one, every day, how sad is that?" she said glancing at Martin.

"What did you pray for?" asked Martin softly.

"I prayed to God that if I worked very, very hard at school, and always tried to come top, my Mum would come back. You see I thought it was my fault she left. I was 8 years old, and I'd done really badly in a test at school. I remember Mum saying 'Oh Louisa, how terrible' – she was probably just joking, but at the time I thought she meant it. So when, the next day she'd gone, taking Andrew but not me, I was sure it was because she was so disappointed in me. When I asked Dad when she was coming back, he said 'Don't worry Princess, she'll be back soon, very soon'. So I worked hard at school, really hard, & usually I did come top, well, it was usually either me or Danny. But she never did come back.

I finally found out years later that she & Dad had split up, not very amicably. She couldn't take his lies & his gambling any more, and he couldn't stand her weird hippy friends any more.

Mind you, to be fair to Dad, they were a very weird bunch. Mum always called me 'Moonbeam Crystal' – you can imagine how well that went down at school. Thank goodness Dad did all the official paperwork – believe it or not he was the more responsible one and so he registered our births. He named me 'Louisa Victoria' after his two Grandmothers, and my brother 'Andrew James' after his two Grandfathers. Mum hated those names, far too 'normal'.

When they decided to separate, they couldn't agree on who should bring up us children, so eventually they agreed to have one child each to raise. Apparently I was always a 'Daddy's girl' so I stayed with him. Dad couldn't face telling me the truth that she'd gone for good, so he carried on pretending that she would be coming back soon. So I always thought she might be back the next day."

"What about your brother?" asked Martin.

"Andrew? Or 'River Windsong' as Mum called him? Poor kid, had such a confused childhood, going from commune to commune, mixing with all sorts of weird & wonderful folk. Didn't get a proper education from what I gathered later. Died of a drug overdose when he was just 17. Last time I saw Mum was at his funeral. I'll never forgive her for letting that happen to him," Louisa said bitterly.

She looked up at Martin and said,

"Anyhow, this picture was done by Snowie, one of her weirdo artist friends – I gather it was him she went off to the commune with. It's meant to be her holding me I believe. I've gone to throw it away several times, but I can never quite bring myself to do it – it's such a pretty picture. But all I could remember for a long time when I looked at it was thinking that if there was a God, he must be pretty cruel not to send my Mum back when I tried so hard at school. Now, though I think he did me a favour, because at least I got an education, unlike Andrew. I had an inspirational teacher at school, Mrs Grossmith, who took me under her wing & helped me – she inspired me to become a teacher like her, because education was my ticket out of a crap life."

Martin felt privileged that Louisa had opened up & told him about her past. He felt humbled when he compared it to his very advantaged, if emotionally cold, upbringing.

Martin took the picture & looked more closely at it. It was really very pretty & well painted – the brush strokes on the angel's wings were technically brilliant. He could see the woman in the picture – Louisa's mother – bore a striking resemblance to Louisa. It was signed 'Jon Snow, 1972'

"Don't bother with it Martin, it's not valuable or anything. He was just one of the weirdo gang that used to hang around with Mum all the time" said Louisa.

"So you met him then? Saw him painting?" asked Martin

"Oh yes. He was always sketching & painting, that's what I remember about him anyway, but it was all a very long time ago. I think there may be a few more bits of his in that box somewhere," said Louisa.

"Well it may surprise you to know that Jon Snow is now a pretty famous & collectable artist. One of the Newlyn painters from the 70's. Your picture could be quite valuable." Martin informed her.

Martin had researched Cornish artists when he had moved down to the area. He had quite a collection of art & antiques, built up when he was a consultant in London.

"You're kidding – Snowie – no, he was just some scruffy hippie. I think you're mistaken Martin." Louisa had told him.

"Well, would you mind if I took it to be looked at?" asked Martin.

"Be my guest" replied Louisa. "See what else there is of his in the box if you want."

Martin took the painting, along with 3 other unframed paintings by Jon Snow that had been in the box, to a dealer who specialized in works by Cornish artists.

"This is really very exciting, four new works by Jon Snow. Do you mind if we take this one out of the frame?" He'd asked, pointing at the Angel picture.

When removed from the frame, they saw an inscription –

"To Marie, Goddess Bestower of New Life. Snowie October 1972."

The dealer explained that with the provenance that Louisa could give, & this inscription, the Angel picture alone would be pretty valuable, but with the other three works, which were smaller but also of Marie & Louisa, he believed they could fetch quite a considerable sum.

"Need a bit of restoration & proper framing of course. If you're considering selling, I have several collectors that I think would be very interested."

"They're not mine to sell" said Martin. "But I want them restored & framed anyway."

Louisa was flabbergasted when Martin told her how valuable the pictures were.

"You could sell them if you wanted to, if they still upset you and have bad memories, but I think it would be a crime Louisa. If you do want to sell them, I will buy them from you at the full valuation price" said Martin, looking her in the eye. "How many people have original artwork of this quality that has such a personal connection?"

Louisa thought about it for a few days. Finally she came to a decision.

"You're right Martin, I shouldn't sell them. My past has made me who I am today. It actually helped talking about it to you, you should become a counsellor" she teased him.

When the pictures were returned to her, beautifully framed & presented, she saw them in a new positive light, and hung them in her bedroom, much to Martin's delight.


End file.
